Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien found out Tuesday morning that the NCAA would later announce its plan to gradually restore scholarships to the program.

In the time between listening to the pending announcement and addressing reporters on his weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference Tuesday afternoon, O'Brien admitted he hadn't fully digested the news and what it means to his program.

He does know, however, that he is happy for his student-athletes, Penn State students, and the university, all of which have watched his building of the program under NCAA sanctions handed down as a result of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal in July 2012.

"We have a long way to go here at Penn State. I'm happy for the kids. For people here at Penn State that worked extremely hard to implement recommendations of Freeh Report," O'Brien said.

"We're trying to take it one day at a time and continue every single day to do the right thing, and that's what we're doing at Penn State."

The announcement, which came via a release and conference call with NCAA and Big Ten officials, plus Penn State Independent Athletic Integrity Monitor George Mitchell, will implement a return of the scholarships taken as a part of the sanctions. They originally called for Penn State's scholarships to be reduced to 15 per year, and 65 total, beginning at the start of the 2014 season.

Now, the program will be able to sign 20 high school football prospects to its recruiting class of 2014, and have a total of 75 scholarship players for the 2014 season, O'Brien said. By 2015, Penn State will be able to sign a full class of 25 recruits - standard at every non-sanctioned school - and have 80 scholarship players. By the 2016 season, the Lions will return to having a full 85 scholarship players, according to the NCAA release.

O'Brien would not delve into how the announcement will change he and his staff's recruiting plans, saying they are still studying and analyzing the announcement much like they did the sanctions package after it was announced over a year ago. Even when that study is complete, he said he won't comment publicly on the recruiting plan they will implement.

"We'll see how it goes, but that's between the staff and myself," O'Brien said. "The difficult part came with the numbers. As far as recruiting, from the day we walked in here, once we were able to get young men and their parents on campus, the place sold itself.

"It's a place where you can get a fantastic degree, and play in a conference with great coaches and players," he continued. "We have a 108,000 seat stadium here. Recruiting athletes was never difficult, but numbers were the difficult part."

The coaching staff did not immediately meet with the team, O'Brien said, citing the necessity for his players to be in class, and his belief in not disrupting their class schedule and commitments to hold a meeting. Instead, they will discuss it briefly when players report for practice at 2:45 p.m., before embarking on bye week preparations for their clash with Indiana Oct. 5.

That the announcement comes during Penn State's bye week, and active season, will serve as a talking point, O'Brien said.

"I feel good for a few groups of people: the football staff here, they've worked extremely hard. Feel good for players, and then our fans," O'Brien said. "I think they're the best fans in the country. I feel good for student body. Days like this, when scholarships are restored, is a good day for all those people.

When asked what Tuesday's announcement may mean for future consideration to the reduction or elimination of the sanction which prohibits Penn State from post-season play and bowl games, the head coach expressed the importance of continuing to do the right thing as a football program, before adding anything else related to that matter "would have to be addressed to somebody other than me."

He later added that it will allow Penn State to get back to 85 scholarships quicker, which will help put the Lions back on a more even playing field numbers-wise, even if they can't go to a bowl game. Penn State is playing this season with under slightly more than 65 scholarships.

"I think that it gives me a chance to talk to team about sticking with it and taking it day-by-day," O'Brien said. "We have to immediately get back to work on Indiana, and try to improve on things we have to improve on to compete on Big Ten schedule the rest of the way. We'll talk to team and move on to Indiana."